We highly recommend hiring a seasoned commercial real estate broker to represent you in finding and negotiating your next commercial lease.
Below are some of the areas to look out for in your next commercial lease:
1) Zoning – Zoning is the process of planning for property use types by a local government to allocate certain kinds of structures in certain areas. In the State of Texas, Zoning regulation has been delegated to local political subdivisions from the State of Texas as shown in the Texas Local Government Code. This delegation causes zoning rules to remain different in many Texas Cities. It is critical to fully research zoning rules in the area that you are considering for lease prior to proceeding with any project. Once you have found a site that you are seriously considering, we recommend meeting with the local city zoning/development office in person (or “online” depending on how much information the municipality provides) so that you fully understand the rules of the property in question. Zoning also includes restrictions in differing zoning areas (ex. building heights, the density, types of businesses, etc). We also recommend obtaining an approved “specific use” letter from the city prior to leasing the space. For the purposes of the acquisition research period for your next lease space, we recommend learning as much as you can about the property’s current zoning classification and how it relates to your desired use.
2) Access and Parking – Make sure that your lease space has adequate access (Ingres/Egress) and parking for your use. These are two of the biggest problems that we see groups run into in commercial leasing.
3) Location – Whether you area a retailer that needs solid traffic counts and specific demographic criteria or whether you need close proximity to a particular destination, make sure that you and your commercial real estate broker fully research your next location prior to making a deal.
4) Legal Support – We highly recommend hiring an established commercial real estate attorney to review and negotiate the language of the lease agreement. Many commercial tenants end up losing in the long run in terms of their lease when they don’t hire a commercial real estate attorney to represent them in the lease language negotiation.
These are just a few of the points that come up regularly in commercial leasing. Hire seasoned commercial real estate brokers and attorneys to represent you in your next commercial lease.
Contact a Texas Commercial Real Estate Expert today:
Luke LeGrand, ePRO 210-843-5853